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Get Ready for Organic Chemistry (2nd Edition)



Get Ready for Organic Chemistry (2nd Edition) PDF

Author: Joel Karty

Publisher: ‎ Pearson

Genres:

Publish Date: October 29, 2011

ISBN-10: 0321774124

Pages: 288

File Type: PDF

Language: English

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Book Preface

Welcome to organic chemistry, the branch of chem-istry that underlies all biological processes at the mo-lecular level and guides us in the synthesis of impor-tant compounds and materials, including antibiotics, cancer therapeutics, plastics, and even materials used to make light emitting diodes (LEDs)—components that are incorporated into the screens of electronic devices such as televisions, computers, and phones. Because of these far-reaching implications, your upcoming organic chemistry course has so much to offer—and could be among the most valuable courses you ever take. But the sad truth is that many (dare I say most ?) students in the course never come to fully realize this. Either they end up struggling to the point that their only concern is passing or, if they do fi nd themselves doing reasonably well, they still fi nish the course seeing organic chemistry as nothing more than a bunch of “stuff ” to know for the exams.
Why does this happen? Almost inevitably it has to do with a tendency to memorize as much as possible. But the fact of the matter is that you can’t memorize it all! And you shouldn’t try to. If you do, then you will quickly fi nd yourself overwhelmed, and nothing will seem to make sense. The good news, though, is that there are relatively few basic concepts that drive organic chemistry, and, if you can understand them and apply them in various ways, organic chemistry can become crystal clear. More-over, you will be able to complete your year of organic chemistry with an appreciation for everything the course has to offer.
The question becomes, what are those concepts? That’s where this book comes in. Throughout this book, I will take you through some of the most important organic chemistry concepts and show you how they are applied in various scenarios. If you truly work hard to understand these concepts and their applications, you will be ready to tackle your yearlong course.
That brings up one more question—the question of when to read and work through this book. Without a doubt, it is best to complete it prior to or shortly after the start of your fi rst term of organic chemistry. It is vitally important that you start your yearlong course on the right track by maintaining a focus on learning, understanding, and applying basic concepts. The reason is that, if you start on the track of memorization, you will fi nd it very diffi cult to switch tracks, and the longer you go, the more diffi cult switching tracks will become—you will have in-creasing amounts of material to catch up on as your class continues to push forward on new material.
That said, it is not impossible to switch tracks from memorizing to focusing on basic concepts. I have heard numerous testimonials where students learned of this book midway through their term, read it, and were able to have incredible turnarounds. So this book truly is a case of “it’s never too late.”
Once you complete this book, hold on to it. Review it from time to time. The ideas that are introduced here are designed to give you a strong start to organic chemistry, but the concepts are relevant to material throughout the entire year.
Although I have spent a good deal of time talking about the importance of understanding the basic con-cepts that drive organic chemistry, Chapter 1 revisits the topic of memorizing versus learning and understanding, but discusses it in greater depth. The aim of the chapter is to convince you, once and for all, that learning and un-derstanding is the way to go and, in order to do so, goes through some examples. The chapter also touches on study habits and addresses some elements of the organi-zation of this book compared to that of a typical organic chemistry textbook.
Chapter 2 covers Lewis dot structures, covalent bonds, formal charges, and resonance. You likely spent a good deal of time on these topics in your general chemistry course, and you might even feel quite comfortable with them. But in organic chemistry, that’s not good enough—you need to master them. To that end, the chapter shows you how to draw Lewis dot structures quickly and ac-curately and also teaches you how to draw all resonance structures of a molecule.
In Chapter 3 , we discuss the three-dimensional geom-etries of molecules and how they play roles in molecular polarity and intermolecular interactions. As will be seen in this chapter, these concepts are vital to aspects of phys-ical properties such as boiling point, melting point, and solubility, as well as to the existence of cis / trans isomers. Later in the book, you will also see how intermolecular interactions help drive reactions.

Chapter 4 deals with isomerism. In your general chemistry class, you might have touched on the idea of constitutional isomers, but this chapter takes the topic much further. It introduces other types of isomers, in-cluding enantiomers and diastereomers, as well as the no-tion of chirality, or handedness, of molecules. Further, the chapter teaches you conclusions to reach about physi-cal and chemical properties of molecules, depending on their specifi c isomeric relationship, and it also shows you how to draw all constitutional isomers and all stereoiso-mers of a molecule.
Chapter 5 is the fi rst of two chapters on reaction mechanisms —the roadmaps that show how reactions occur in a step-by-step manner. Reaction mechanisms are among the most important things to focus on in organic chemistry—ignoring them spells disaster for most students. Although mechanisms are generally comprised of multiple steps, this chapter focuses on the 10 individual steps that are most common (and therefore most important) to organic chemistry. Beyond just teaching you to recognize certain types of steps, this chapter provides insight into how and why such steps occur.
In Chapter 6, we delve into the notion of charge sta-bility, one of the most important driving forces for reac-tions. You will learn how to determine the relative sta-bilities of molecular structures based on their charges and the atoms and types of bonds involved with those charges. These ideas are applied to determining the rela-tive strengths of acids, bases, and nucleophiles (types of reactants you will also learn about in this chapter).
Chapter 7 is the second chapter on reaction mecha-nisms. Whereas Chapter 5 focuses on the details of in-dividual reaction steps, this chapter focuses on reaction mechanisms consisting of multiple steps. It begins by teaching you how to read and write multistep mecha-nisms and continues by discussing various rules of thumb that will help you distinguish reasonable mecha-nisms from unreasonable ones. It ends with an applica-tion dealing with relatively lengthy mechanisms.
Chapter 8 deals with one of the fi rst classes of reactions you will encounter in your yearlong course—nucleophilic substitution and elimination. One of the reasons for including this chapter is that it requires you to apply numerous concepts introduced in previous chapters, reinforcing the importance of maintaining your focus on concepts at all times. In addition, nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions are among the most challenging reaction classes you will face in your entire year of organic chemistry, so this is where many students hit the proverbial brick wall in their traditional course. The aim of this chapter is therefore to provide you with the tools that will allow you to break through that wall.
Finally, Chapter 9 reviews some of the basic strategies discussed in previous chapters. It also gives some advice as to how to keep your focus on the right things—and ultimately conquer organic chemistry.
Some special features in each chapter include the following:

■ Your Starting Point : Tests your grasp of the chapter content before you start. Answers are provided for all of these.
■ Quick Check : Asks you to recall or apply what you have just read in order to keep your eyes from scanning the page while your brain is on holiday. The answer is provided on the same page.
■ Picture This : Asks you to visualize scenarios and then answer questions about them in order to help you better understand the topics.
■ Time to Try : Is a simple experiment or quick assessment in which you perform an active exercise.
■ Why Should I Care? : Highlights the relevance of the material so you understand its importance in the big picture.
■ Reality Check : Has you connect what you learn to the real world.
■ Look Out : Highlights the possible pitfalls or challenges to a student. These paragraphs focus
on areas where a novice practitioner may not understand the consequences of a particular action or inaction.
■ Keys : Highlight the main themes for reinforce-ment and easy review. These can be spotted by the symbol .
■ What Did You Learn? : Asks you to apply material from throughout the chapter to answer these end-of-chapter problems.


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